A1You can use the Characters without Crypton’s further permission as long as you comply with the terms and conditions set forth in the CC BY-NC.

A2CC BY-NC permits you to copy or adapt the original illustrations of the Characters under the following conditions:

• Your use must be for noncommercial purposes only. For the scope of “noncommercial,” please see Q3. You need separate permission from Crypton for commercial uses. Please see Q4.
• Display on your work the individual credits for each of the Characters as shown below:

  Hatsune Miku, © Crypton Future Media, Inc. 2007 (for Hatsune Miku)

  Kagamine Rin, © Crypton Future Media, Inc. 2007 (for Kagamine Rin)

  Kagamine Len, © Crypton Future Media, Inc. 2007 (for Kagamine Len)

  Megurine Luka, © Crypton Future Media, Inc. 2009 (for Megurine Luka)

  MEIKO, © Crypton Future Media, Inc. 2004 (for MEIKO)

  KAITO, © Crypton Future Media, Inc. 2006 (for KAITO)

• Cite the CC license and link; i.e., “under a CC BY-NC: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/”. If you publish your work online, you can simply hyperlink to the license name instead of describing it with text.
• If you are copying the original work as is, we recommend that you credit it as follows (for Hatsune Miku):
  “Hatsune Miku, © Crypton Future Media, Inc. 2007, licensed under a CC BY-NC: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/”.
• If you are adapting the original work to create your own, we recommend that you credit it as follows (for Hatsune Miku):
  “This [video] (or other appropriate type of work) features an adaptation of Hatsune Miku, © Crypton Future Media, Inc. 2007, licensed under a CC BY-NC: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/”.

A3It means you can use the Characters in cases where neither of the following applies:

i) the Characters will be used for any business purpose; and

ii) you will receive money in compensation for the usage of the Characters.

A4Please contact Crypton at intlbizcrypton.co.jp for information regarding commercial use. But please note that we will not respond to questions requesting information that can already be found in this FAQ.

A5No. The CC BY-NC only applies to the original illustrations of the Characters. For the avoidance of doubt, any music associated with Hatsune Miku or other Characters is not licensed under the CC BY-NC unless otherwise noted.

A6No, you cannot, unless otherwise noted by the creator of such adapted illustrations. Only the original illustrations of the Characters released by Crypton are licensed under CC BY-NC. Adapted illustrations created by other creators are subject to copyrights held by those creators for their adaptations, and you cannot use those adaptations without the creator’s permission.

If the creator applies a noncommercial CC license to his or her creation, you can use it in accordance with that license! It is our belief that even in such a case, if a license other than a CC license has been applied and there is no requirement to indicate the creator's name together with the work, it is still desirable that you credit the name of the creator as a sign of respect.

A7No, you cannot. These video clips include copyrights of the creators who made videos, music, lyrics, adapted illustrations or any other creative works contained in the videos. The act of reproducing or editing such video clips without the creators’ permission is a violation of copyright law.

A8Yes, it is possible for you to release your work with a CC license or another type of license applied in order to allow other people to use your work. But in doing so, please ensure that you apply to your work terms and conditions equivalent to those under a noncommercial CC license. In other words, if you apply a CC license, you can choose from only the three following categories: BY-NC; BY-NC-SA; and BY-NC-ND.

A9The Characters are licensed under CC BY-NC (which does not allow commercial use). But the only CC license currently available under YouTube is CC-Attribution (CC-BY), which allows commercial use. Therefore, unfortunately, any video clip of yours that contains any of the Characters cannot be uploaded on YouTube with a CC-BY license.

A10The PCL, which we publicly announced in 2009, is crafted with the clear aim of compatibility with Japanese law and Japanese pop culture, so we believe it is difficult to translate it and adapt it to other languages and, in particular, other cultures. Therefore, we decided to adopt the CC BY-NC for people outside Japan who create works using Hatsune Miku or other Characters.

However, the PCL remains effective as before, and you can use the Characters both in and outside Japan based on your accurate understandings of the PCL’s original Japanese text, Copyright Law of Japan and Japanese pop culture. In other words, the Characters are licensed under both CC BY-NC and PCL, and when you use the Characters, you can use them in compliance with either license as you wish.

A11When you copy or modify the Characters, please do not distort, mutilate, modify or take other derogatory action in relation to the Characters that would be prejudicial to Crypton's honor or reputation (please see Section 4e. of the full license). Some examples of prohibited uses include use in an overly violent context or in a sexual context.